Today as I was pursuing the stories of my local news, I came across an interesting story about Civil Rights, segregation, and violent bigotry. Fort Worth, Texas is not a town that comes to mind when one things about the Civil Rights movement or Jim Crow south. However, like all cities and towns in the south, we have our stories – good and bad.
Downtown Fort Worth in the 1920s (less than a decade after the riot).
Courtesy of Wikimedia
Today, Bud Kennedy relates the story of race riots in 1913 Downtown Fort Worth, sparked by a movie theatre, “The Dixie” that was the first and only “Black’s Only” movie theatre in Downtown Fort Worth. Violence erupted, the theatre was destroyed, and African-Americans were assaulted on their Sunday morning walks to church. The event was then covered up by the local press as an incident resulting from “poor parenting.”
To read more about the story and history of this dark event in Fort Worth, see the article: “History reminds of the true meaning of the MLK Holiday” at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
I’m grateful that you are helping eradicate revisionist history: “The event was then covered up by the local press as an incident resulting from “poor parenting.” Thank goodness you are a history teacher and undoing some of the amazing harm of history texts.
I hope that you read the whole original article. It is very fascinating! It tells not only the story of bigotry, but also some tales of courage and compassion.